Rio de Janeiro Will Host 2016 Olympics

The Brazilian megalopolis will be the first South American city to host the Games.

Considered a co-favorite ahead of Friday’s voting by the International Olympic Committee in Copenhagen, Denmark, Chicago was the first of the four finalist cities eliminated. Tokyo and Madrid also lost out to Rio. While as Americans we could not help but root for Chicago to win, it’s also nice to see the Games reach a continent they have never been to. The US has already hosted the Olympics eight times (including both the summer and winter Games), far more than any other nation.